Tag Archives: supply chain

Yes, it’s sad to see a startup closing its doors and entrepreneurs going home after their dream wasn’t coming through. But I also must say that the “script was well written on the wall”.

I launched Kazzata.com about two years ago. When I launched it I was already in the end of a couple of months thinking process about what would be the strategy to enter the 3D printing industry. As my background was in digital stock photography marketplaces, my initial thought was to build a general purpose marketplace for STL files. Thingivers and Shapeways were already in the market. While I was checking the market few other general marketplaces started to emerge and I knew that I don’t want to be involved in what they were doing. Let’s admit it. Most of the general 3DP marketplaces offered childish products. It was obvious that their potential will not go beyond the makers’ community who wanted to test their newly bought 3D printer. Problem is that the makers’ community is limited in its size.

I was dam sure that it will take much more time for the regular consumers’ audience to enter into this market and to replace the limited buying power of the makers.

Then I decided to open a specialized marketplace for spare parts. No Yodas, no monsters no smartphone covers. Only spare parts. This was two years ago, when I launched the company with a partner. Since we are technical savvy we built a nice web site so manufacturers and makers will be able to upload spare parts. Indeed, few makers uploaded their reconstructed parts but manufacturers didn’t come. We wanted to attract mainly manufacturers not makers but they told us that they don’t want to lose control and upload their parts to a 3rd party web site.

So about a year ago we understood that 3DP marketplace is no longer viable business. Even for a specialized spare part marketplace. We then changed our business model to a cloud service and just now finished our MVP with funding from Fabulous (the 3DP EU accelerator).

Now the power is moving to the manufacturers. With our platform (which is a cloud service on their own web site) they can start sell physical products which for the long run, they keep as digital files only (no physical inventory). When a product is being ordered (and paid) the file and 3D printing instructions will be routed to a pre-approved – manufacturing grade – 3DP service bureau. The service bureau will be located in the closest proximity to the ordering customer as possible.

We are starting to recruit manufacturers and we hope that such a business model will be successful, and will attract manufacturers rather than makers for real commercial profits.

Now we are in the business of “supply chain management” instead of the marketplace business.

Last week we basically finished our MVP and we started to make some marketing.
we have developed a platform that aims to shorten supply chains and bring substantial savings to spare part manufacturers and distribution companies. This is done by enabling the manufacturer to keep its inventory in digital form only, while its products would be 3D printed only on demand.

Immediately after we started to spread the word, I got feedback from around the globe. Few of the feedbacks were like – “Hey we also thought about it, very nice solution and business model BUT (there is always but) how do you solve this and this and that…”

My answer is: we are entrepreneurs and while other talked about it we decided to do something about it…we are used to jump into the ocean and start swimming without knowing all the answers… and this is why our platform is MVP.
We are confident, that when a manufacturer of spare parts will use our cloud platform we will move forward together and solve some of the unknowns.

The Rapid Manufacturing industry is still in its infancy and the ones who want to lead the market should make their first step now.

Kazzata has developed a unique software platform that shortcuts supply chains and aims to bring substantial savings to spare parts manufacturers and distribution companies.

We are launching our beta site and calling manufacturers and spare parts distributors to get in touch so we can assess cooperation possibilities.

What we are offering:

We offer you the manufacturer to keep your inventory of spare parts only in digital form. This means you will no longer need to mass-produce and store your spare parts not knowing when or from which part of the globe an order will come. From now on, you will only 3D print the part on demand.

Scenario of use: When a customer enters YOUR web site, he may enter your ‘Spare Parts’ page. When he finds the spare part needed, he may order and pay online and, in a short time, he will get the real spare part delivered to his home (or office, garage, shop, manufacturing plant). The spare part will be 3D printed via our global network of specialized industrial-grade 3D printing service bureaus. The one who will 3D print it will be the one closest to the customer. We ship the part to your customer on your behalf after quality control.

Our platform and technology carry out all the above-mentioned activities in all their aspects.

You, the manufacturer, are operating the “back office” of the platform. You have to upload a CAD file and all related data of the part itself. This includes information related to the material and the 3D printing technology needed. If you do not have such information, we can assist you via our experts.

We know that not all spare parts manufacturers have a need for such service, but if you have issues with your spare parts distribution as herein described, it would be wise from your perspective to try working with us. Issues you may have with your spare parts supply chain include:

The manufacturer “MUST” supply spare parts to its customers/distributors.

The part is built using one up to two materials only (can be polymer or metal).

The part is not related to any safety mechanism.

The missing part causes great losses of revenues to the end customer (so he will be willing to pay a price which is related to the losses – not to the cost of the part itself)

The inventory of the part is defined as “slow-moving inventory.”

The cost of inventory and logistics to supply the part (when needed) is high.

An amazing concept for future use of 3D printers is shown in this video. Basically it says that in the future it will be so easy and cheap to print anything that we will prefer to travel without our suitcase. When we arrive to any location we will print locally what ever we need.

Yes I know it will not happen tomorrow but eventually sooner than we think this will be the way we will travel with our luggage.

“Eytam Robotics approached me few weeks ago with a problem they had” says Noam Eshkol CEO and founder of Kazzata which is a 3D printing marketplace for spare parts . Eytam develops, manufactures and distributes high end educational robots. Their customer base are pupils in schools which are very happy with the robots that they program and operate, so they can learn the basics of robotics. The pupils are instructed to operate the robots only on the floor and not on a table. Why? because if on a table and when programing they entered wrong parameters and the robot doesn’t stop at the end of the table, it can simply fell to the floor, and sometimes the outer panels of the robot break.

Eytam robotics searched for a solution to supply spare parts for their first generation of educational robots which they don’t manufacture anymore but still want to maintain high level of service and thus need to keep an inventory of its spare parts.

“I am happy to say” says Noam, “that they chose the solution that Kazzata offer”. They uploaded their first generation robot spare part CAD files into the Kazata repository and now pupils and teachers are downloading the files and print it on their 3D printer only when they really need the part.

Kazzata solution enabled Eytam Robotics save the expenditure of investing in slow moving inventory while their customers still get immediate solution when they need to replace a broken panel of a robot.

About Kazzata: Kazzata is creating the world’s largest online CAD file repository and marketplace for spare parts, which will, through 3D printing, dramatically ease the accessibility of rare or obsolete spare parts for consumers and businesses, reducing frustration and productivity loss. Kazzata also solves the logistical and planning problems of manufacturers that have to supply aftermarket service parts by enabling on-demand 3D printing of parts. For 3D designers and engineers, Kazzata provides a way to monetize designs that are licensed through the site.

Our new venture Kazzata.com is all about disrupting traditional spare part supply chains with 3D printing technology on-demand.

I have just read an insightful article in 3D Printing Technology . I am quoting here two paragraphs but it is worth to read the full articles.

Quote 1:

For 3D printing, almost any existing product sector could be disrupted, almost anyone can become involved, and almost any potential set of outcome scenarios may emerge, though confined to limiting variables that we will look at shortly.

Quote 2:

It took the 3D printing industry 20 years to reach $1 billion in size. In five additional years, the industry generated its second $1 billion. It is expected to double again, to $4 billion, in 2015. This exponential growth rate is forecast to continue until at least 2025 by which time the industry will have reached up to $600 billion.